Synopsis

"Opportunities won't wait for you to be ready." – Aria Kanzaki

In the world of Hidan no Aria AA, there are special students called Butei who are authorized to carry weapons, investigate crimes and solve various incidents. One of the best of these students is an S-rank second year at Tokyo Butei High School named Aria Kanzaki. On the opposite end of the scale is E-rank first year named Akari Mamiya.

Akari absolutely idolizes Aria and wants to become an elite Butei just like her but sadly she just isn't very good and constantly fails her rank exams. One day she gets the bright idea to submit a request to become Aria's Amica (assistant), despite her friends telling her that she shouldn't even bother due to the disparity in their skills. Surprisingly though, Aria decides to give Akari a test, which she not only accepts, but passes!

It won't be easy for Akari though, as before she can officially become Aria's Amica she'll have to work hard until she proves her value. Will Akari's dream ever come true or will she be forced to give up before she even has a chance to get started, and can Aria help this E-rank girl go from zero to hero?

When they first announced a new Aria anime I assumed we might be getting a sequel to the original Hidan no Aria, Granted the original was by no means a great show but it was at least half decent. However instead of a sequel we got something called Hidan no Aria AA a spin off series that takes place around the same time.

Spin off's are normally an outcome of a surge in popularity for the main or parent show, From my viewpoint I don't really think the original Hidan no Aria was popular or even good enough to adapt a spin off but nevertheless we
got one. Rarely do spin off's tend to surpass the original and Hidan no Aria AA is no exception to it.

Story-3

For starters Hidan no Aria AA can pretty much be watched even without seeing the original as it has no ties with it(As far as the anime is concerned), Previous knowledge of the series just gives you a little more insight into Aria's character and you'll recognize some of the older characters who make cameo appearances and of course knowledge of the Hidan no Aria world which they do explain in the beginning of AA as well.

The story is literally meh and is almost non existent for three quarters of the show, Most of the episodes are nothing but episodic Yuri fan service with most of the characters fawning over each other, When the story does get serious however it's not really anything special and to be honest it just feels like some forced plot so that the spin off can try to capture a little of the serious overtone of the original. So as far as plot goes it's nothing great honestly and it just so happens to be there for the sake of it and thus makes it very predictable as to what will happen.
Finally the fight scenes that do occur are very mediocre and some are just downright bad, By bad I mean honestly really bad.

Characters

There is a small cast of relevant characters, Akari is your main protagonist who idolizes and dreams of becoming Aria's (Original series protagonist ) apprentice shall I say, We then have her group of friends which include two girls who fawn over Akari and is the show's main yuri fan service element and a more onee-sama type character. We then have Akari's sister, Aria of course and last but not least the characters from the original that make cameo appearances.

Character Development- Weak/Stagnant

Due to Episodic/Yuri of nature of possibly the first 9 episodes none of the characters have any real development and even the little that does occur towards the end of the show is weak and dosen't really change anything or make any major difference, Predictable.

Art/Animation -10

The art is excellent and may be a major point to watch this show, The characters look really cute and the animation and backgrounds look good as well. Aria especially looks way cuter than in the original series.

Sound-7

The OP is awesome, The OST suits the series but nothing really stood out as exceptional.

Enjoyment-4

My enjoyment of the show was very limited, You could say I just dragged myself to watch it just for the sake of seeing the characters from the original series The Yuri fan service gets tedious at one point and the supposedly serious stuff that finally came I couldn't take seriously at all. None of the chracters(AA exclusive) appealed to me. The fight scenes were a joke(literally). It's funny occasionally and that's about it.

So should you watch Hidan no Aria AA?

Perhaps, If you like yuri fan service then by all means this show is for you but don't expect anything extreme. If you don't mind a weak plot/characters and just wanna watch something for boredom then you could give this try, You might enjoy it more than me but I would still recommend something else.
If you're expecting cool action/plot please look elsewhere as none of that is present here. If you're interested in seeing the Aria world/characters again then this could be worth it for you. Apart from that I don't see any other reason to recommend this to you.

Overall - 4

Hidan no Aria AA is to be honest is not worth your time and you're better off watching something else.

This title made my autumn anime season colorful. When ongoing was about to end, I realized that I waited the episodes from this anime more than from any other title. So what is Hidan no Aria AA about? Let`s make a short review.

This is alternative version of the original story. Former main character Toyama Kinji was succesfully replaced by a cute girl Akari Mamiya. This is a good example for harem anime creators: cut the male characters from the plot, add kawaii little girls and yuri atmosphere — and it`ll be much better! It was such a brave decision
and I definately approved it.

Plot
Akari wants to become Aria`s amica (some kind of partner and trainee at the same time). Aria is not easy to talk in, so she makes Akari to clear some goals to become her amica. Clearing it and dealing with some "bad" girls, Akari goes to her dream.
Plot is pretty simple, but I think it is not important here.

Art
Average. In the first season it was better (there was J.C. Staff after all).

Sound
Seiyuu did they work well. Especially I liked Ayano Sakura, who voiced Akari. Kugimiya as Aria was good too.
Music is good, but nothing special.

Characters

They are pretty cute. Anime with only girls in the main characters are the best, everyone should take it as given. Akari is so emotional lively cute girl, and she has her own yuri harem with yuri-yandere and oujo-sama. Raika is nice character too, as well as crowding around her lolis and Kirin Shima, cute ojou-sama~rashii loli.
Riko is nice as always. Kyochikuto and her rapefacing little sister are enjoying too.

Enjoyment
Despite everything, I liked this anime so much. It was so enjoying and pleasant to see, so relaxing and warm.

To sum up
I definately recommend this title for moe and shoujo ai fanciers. It was the best title of autumn 2015 for me.

Story: 5/10
The story wasn't exactly bad, but it was just leaps and bounds behind the original Hidan no Aria series with Aria as the actual heroine. The story was pretty standard for the Hidan no Aria series with our heroines fighting with the mysterious organization I-U with the cliche turn around points. The spin-off takes place in the same time period as when Aria first met Kinji, which was awfully confusing because I'm pretty sure at the time, Aria was living with Kinji and not in some fancy shmancy apartment building. I know the main focus of the series isn't on Aria, but the lack
of Kinji in the series makes it difficult to exactly place the series time period wise.

Art & Sound: 7/10
I usually don't have very many complaints about the animation and soundtrack of anime, unless it's like painfully obviously bad. I liked the opening since it was more rock then cutsy, which is what you would expect for an anime with only girls. The animation is smooth and flows well with little impediment to the action sequences. Although when Akari does her secret move thingy, it's kind of ridiculous.

Character: 1/10
Main blow to the series, the cast of characters isn't as good as the original. Aria is way more pathetic in this series as opposed to the tsundere badass heroine that we know in the original series. She may be the "sempai" of the series, but she's too nice and too understanding. She's the heir to the Holmes family for god's sake. You have to make her more badass instead of the pansy that she is in the series. And Akari as a heroine is just too pathetic. She was suppose to be the "clumsy and useless but actually skilled" character mold, but this is just pathetic. There was zero character development and all of a sudden she just goes "Oh lol, I was actually hiding my true potential because I'm actually a trained assassin teehee" and all of a sudden her skills increase in leaps and bounds. The other cast are just plain stupid as well since we have the routine shoujo ai thing going on in an all girls anime. None of the characters really have any character development. They're all just super flat. Like SUPER flat. Plus the lack of Kinji is just painful (or just the lack of major male characters).

Enjoyment: 3/10
Kind of those "turn on and do something else" animes. I really didn't have very much motivation in watching this. Heck, the only reason I started watching this was because I thought it was the second season to Hidan no Aria and not some weird spin-off it actually was. Doesn't get me very pumped at all (unless you like little girls fighting each other with guns while looking beautiful and cute). It tried, but didn't really do the series justice.

Overall: 2/10
Definitely wouldn't recommend this to someone to watch. I'd just tell them to watch the original Hidan no Aria. Really uneventful storyline with pathetic and stupid (lack of a better word) characters that can't seem to keep their minds off sleeping with each other. I came here looking for action packed fighting scenes and left with shoujo ai lolicons getting all ichaicha together. A shame to the Hidan no Aria series.

There’s this anime I watched on Tuesdays, namely, Hidan no Aria AA. It’s literally a show about a bunch of lesbians... and they “fight.” Yet the fight scenes are seriously embarrassing! I seriously have never experienced an anime fight that made me cringe this hard until now. Actually, I probably have. This isn’t the worst thing ever, but seriously, with every passing episode, I think to myself: this is so cringey. And yet I sit there, watching the anime. Heck, I even want to watch more; I’m addicted to the cringe! Okay, not really, but I don’t mind watching another episode. Then people get pissed
at me because I can’t sit through another episode of Shigatsu or FMA. Well, they’re pissed for good reason. The anime industry produces stuff like Hidan no Aria AA often. Why the hell am I wasting even more time on it? You could say I have bad taste... but I think HNAA is terrible. I still watched it though.

Why should you watch Hidan no Aria AA? Or rather, why did I watch it? The only thing I can reasonably defend about Hidan no Aria is its sick opening and its art style. Everything else is objectively bad. The majority of the show is the fanservice and shoujo ai aspect, and I’m not going to criticize people who enjoy the fanservice in Hidan no Aria. It’s there for a reason; I don’t necessarily mind it, but I’m not watching HNA to fap vigorously with sweat dripping down my forehead for these little kiddos. I dunno. Anyway, if people wanted to fap then there’s hentai for that. Then what is Hidan no Aria AA for? is it just there to tease the mind? Are you being blue balled? haha. That’s a joke if I’ve ever heard one.

I watched Hidan no Aria because it’s a drug. This is especially true for those who seem to be lonely, which applies to a lot of anime fans (not all, of course... I also understand that last sentence was very contentious). It supplies relationshipping very bluntly to its audience, which in its own right is very satisfying. Every character is psycho-bonkers crazy over each other. It’s downright silly. “Love” in this anime is so unrealistically forced and actually pretty random, too. It’s basically a parody on serious romantic relationships in anime. Of course, I know that’s not true; it’s not intended to be a parody. I feel like whoever made this anime/light novel was being serious with the relationships in this series. But seriously, I feel nothing! Maybe because nothing was built! And yet, I feel like I can support these relationships and feel good when they succeed. Why does this work? Think of generic harems like To-Love Ru and Nisekoi. There’s always a "best" girl, and damn when best girl gets her "moment" my heart can’t take it. Well, not really, but I get really excited. HNAA has a bunch of different relationships between moe-blobs. Literally all the characters are moe-blobs, and I think it’s adorable when they have their psychopathic tendencies. There really is no “lose” relationship happening. Think of it like a pseudo best-girl moment over and over.

But wait! what about the plot? After all, isn’t that what makes an anime good? Not necessarily. However, if you wanted to watch this anime for the action or substance of plot, all you’re going to get is a different kind of “plot.” Enjoy the moe, enjoy the moe, enjoy the moe… enjoy.